Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 5: Dr. George Hodel had no surgical practice in Los Angeles. He had no admitting privileges as a surgeon at any Los Angeles hospital.

Steve Hodel perpetually claims that his father was a skilled surgeon. According to the original investigators, the skill with which Elizabeth Short was cut in half showed advanced medical knowledge. At the heart of Steve Hodel’s purported “case” against his father is the claim that Dr. Hodel was a skilled surgeon. As noted earlier, Steve Hodel claims that his father’s skillful bisection of the body – and mutilation – was done “in homage” to the surrealist art of Man Ray.

In truth, Dr. Hodel never practiced surgery in Los Angeles. (Nor was he a “Hollywood gynecologist,” as portrayed in “I Am the Night.”)

Dr. Hodel did not practice surgery in Los Angeles because he couldn’t. Dr. Hodel lacked the essential accreditation awarded by the American College of Surgeons, the surgeons professional association. Without that credential, no hospital would let him operate.

In fact, Dr. Hodel had no admitting privileges as a surgeon at any Los Angeles hospital, a matter that Steve Hodel refuses to address because it’s inconvenient to his “Black Dahlia Avenger” narrative. Dr. Hodel’s practice was public health.